To mark the end of the 2015 Share Lent campaign, Sow Much Love... to Give, Development and Peace wishes to underscore the outstanding contribution of everyone who took part in the campaign and whose deep commitment led them to generously give their time, energy and solidarity to helping our sisters and brothers in the Global South.
Share Lent 2015 News
April 1, 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Brazil is proud to be the second largest food exporter in the world, and on the way to becoming the first. Yet, according to the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), there are 3.4 million people living with food insecurity in the country. How can we explain the existence of hunger in a country that has such immense resources and could even help to end world hunger?
There are three main causes of this injustice:
April 1, 2015
From March 13th to the 17th, the Diocese of Hamilton was blessed to have a Solidarity Visitor, Fr. Alberto Franco, CSsR, from Columbia.
Fr. Franco is the Executive Secretary of Development and Peace’s partner, the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP). He has been an ardent defender of human rights for over 20 years and has been accompanying Afro-Colombians, indigenous peoples and peasant farmers in defending and reclaiming their lands.
March 31, 2015
Each year, hundreds of youth across Canada participate in Development and Peace’s THINKfast program, which is a 25-hour education and fundraising fast in solidarity with communities in the Global South.
March 20, 2015
"Money must serve, not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favours human beings."
–Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel, 58.
March 20, 2015
Last Friday, March 13th, staff and National Council members had the privilege of experiencing the first edition of a fundraising activity initiated by the Fundraising/Communications Working Group of the Share Lent Campaign organizing committee: a silent auction!
March 19, 2015
If Bishop Eugenio Rixen has one message that he hopes to share with Canadians during his solidarity visit to Canada, it’s that faith and action are not contrary to one another, but rather go hand in hand. Bishop Rixen is currently touring Alberta and Manitoba as part of Development and Peace’s Share Lent campaign Sow Much Love… To Give.
March 16, 2015
Samuel Oladipupo understands the hardships of being a small family farmer. Livestock feed is expensive and is sometimes hard to come by. The low prices fetched from the products of his labours make it difficult to expand and try new agricultural activities. Poor roads and infrastructure can make it hard to get products to market. And little support is given to farmers, who are often neglected by government policies that do not benefit them.
March 9, 2015
It was exciting to learn that British Columbia would have the honour of hosting Fr. Edwin Gariguez as this year’s Solidarity Visitor. Fr. Edwin is the Executive Secretary of Caritas Philippines-NASSA. He has been playing an important role in bringing about humanitarian aid in the Philippines to those who have been displaced by Typhoons Haiyan and Hagupit, and addressing issues of injustice in the Philippines that perpetuate poverty.
March 6, 2015
In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Development and Peace wants to highlight the fundamental role that women play in bringing about food security and food sovereignty.
March 2, 2015
At the first hint of a cool breeze from the setting sun, a buzz of activity takes over a small plot of land that faces the sea in the city of Tacloban in the Philippines. The garden is soon full of women and children toiling away under the pinkish hue of the sky – the sign that it is finally cool enough to till the earth, pull up weeds, and tend to the vegetables sprouting from the ground.
February 24, 2015
Maria Dalva dirige un groupe de 54 agriculteurs dans l’État de Para au Brésil. Pour beaucoup de membres du groupe toutefois, l’amour de la terre a été menacé par les conditions de travail proches de l’esclavage imposées par le propriétaire de la plantation.
February 20, 2015
In Burundi, 90 percent of citizens make their living from agriculture. On average, each family farm has just one acre of land, often not enough to feed a family. There is rarely a surplus to sell at market. Burundi’s farmers deal not only with the usual uncertainty caused by pests, fluctuating prices and poor weather, but they are still recovering from a civil war that ravaged the country between 1993 and 2005.
February 18, 2015
There are currently 805 million people in the world today who suffer from hunger – that is 1 person in 9 - and 50 percent of these are farmers. With the launch of its Share Lent campaign today on Ash Wednesday, Development and Peace is inviting all Canadians to show their solidarity with the people of the Global South, under the theme Sow Much Love… to Give.
February 16, 2015
This Lent we are being asked to sow seeds of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Global South. This doesn’t mean just sharing our material goods with the poorest of the poor, it also means sowing seeds of faith and love within ourselves. Lent is a time to take a look inside ourselves and reflect on our relationships with God and each other. This reflection can be deepened by spending time in prayer and fasting, both of which assist us in sowing seeds of love and change.
February 13, 2015
Development and Peace is proud to announce the release of its first app, the Lent Calendar App for smartphones and tablets. This app is a resource for Share Lent campaign. This year's campaign, entitled Sow Much Love… to Give, calls us to stand in solidarity with small-scale family farmers in the Global South who struggle to feed their families and communities.
February 2, 2015
Happy are those, like me, who have taken a long journey. In December of 2014, I had the pleasure of visiting different initiatives carried out by Development and Peace partners in Niger and Mali, and speaking with villagers in these communities.